Chapter Nineteen

ELENA

“Oh fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck put me down, put me down!” I screamed, peeking over Yavara’s elbow at the thousands of feet of nothing between me and the ground.

“Is that Castle Thorum off in the distance?” Yavara mused, “I think I see the Spearhead Mountains, but I can’t quite tell. Maybe we should go higher?”

“I’ll kill you! I swear to god I’ll do it!”

Yavara laughed, her black hair billowing in the wind. “You know, from this high up the landscape looks kind of curved, do you see it? The horizon-line is actually more of a bow. I wonder why that is. Everyone knows the earth is flat.”

“I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! Why are you always like this?!”

Yavara giggled, cradling me in her arms like a babe, making a show of walking on the air. The illusion was broken when one of my daggers slipped from its sheath, and fell in a metallic twinkle of sunlight to the pine trees below. If I’d eaten breakfast, I would’ve puked.

“Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six…”

“Why are you counting?” I whimpered.

“…twenty-seven, twenty-eight.” Yavara finished when the dagger disappeared, “Acceleration of gravity is thirty-two feet per second squared, neglecting initial velocity, multiply that by the time of free fall, that makes our height… shit, I was never good at math. Elena, you were the one who took all my tests for me; how high are we?”

“Really fucking high, put me down right now!”

Yavara grinned at me. “Right now? The best I can do is twenty-eight seconds.”

I gaped at her. “You bitch.” And I was falling, screaming my lungs out, flailing at the sky like I could grab it. Yavara hovered next to me, lounging in freefall with a yawn, looking at me from the corner of her eyes. If I had the wherewithal to punch that smirk off her face, I would’ve, but I was too busy shrieking in the throes of mortal terror. She caught me after an eternal twenty seconds, giggling like a schoolgirl as we descended to my hut. When we finally landed, my hair was a frizzled mess, and my complexion was nearly as pale as it had been before my transformation. My legs were like jelly when I tried to stand, but I still had the strength to pivot on my heels, and punch Yavara right in the twat.

“Ow, fuck!” She cried, doubling over.

“Tender there?” I growled.

“Because of you!” Yavara gasped trying to rub the pain away, “Besides, you’re the one who wanted to fly!”

“Ah, so it’s my fault that you dropped me thirty-eight hundred feet!”

“So you did do the math.” Yavara smiled through her pain. That cheeky bitch; I couldn’t stay mad at her. She was wearing armor now, a tight black leather one-piece that wrapped in a turtle-neck just below her chin, but Yavara, being who she was, had decided to leave a cutout for her cleavage, thereby negating the very purpose of the breastplate. But god, she looked good in it, and she knew it. Her pained rubbing turned to a sensual caress, her flustered expression turned to a lip-biting suggestion.

“You know we don’t have time.” I sighed.

“Just a quickie?”

“No,” I said firmly, “it’s never just a few minutes with you. You’ll go overboard and pretty soon the whole village will be fucking in the streets.”

“I know I tend to escalate things, but I promise I’ll be good.” Yavara said as her fingers drifted down her pelvis, “We don’t even have to take off our clothes. Look.” She twirled around and bent over, looking back at me with a mischievous grin. There was another cutout in her armor, one that couldn’t be seen except from this angle. A thin strip of leather was removed to expose her hairless bronze taint, her moist pink anus puckered for me, her blushing pussy dripping with readiness. “It’s sexier like this, isn’t it?” She whispered over her shoulder, one eye concealed by a curtain of black hair, “Everything’s covered except what’s supposed to be.” She reached back and grabbed her cheeks, her fingers sinking into the plump fat painted with leather, spreading herself. Her anus opened, her pussy lips parted, her taint glimmered with moisture. She gave me an open-mouthed smile over her shoulder. “You shouldn’t skip breakfast Elena; it’s the most important meal of the day.”

“Oh… fuck.” I groaned in defeat, dropped to my knees before my queen, and planted my face between her cheeks. I drew my tongue through her petals, tasted the salt of her lust, then move up her taint, pursed my lips about her rim, and sucked her where she loved it. When she was moaning my name, her supple cheeks consuming my face, and her leathered crotch soaked with her want, I pulled away, lined up my shot, and gave her what she needed. What I needed. I fucked her with a fervency, pressing her against the wall, railing into her ass, feeling her rim slide tightly up and down my shaft as she backed into me over and over. “Come in my pussy!” She mewled, and I did, driving my sullied member into her soft heat, feeling her tender insides seize around me with each thrust until I was crying out into her shoulder, unloading into her. When it was done, we were a sweaty mess on the ground, the leather oppressively hot on our radiant flesh, our breaths labored and spent. Yavara crawled over to me, her black hair plastered to her face. She took my deflating cock in her hand, and she sucked her filth from me, moaning as she tasted the mixture of her holes, licking her lips clean of the string of cum that bridged them. I kissed her before she could swallow, my tongue sliding along hers, tasting the vile lust she’d sucked from me.

“Master?” I heard Opal’s voice, “Master, are you ready? We need to go soon if we’re going to get there before dark!”

“Don’t.” Yavara put her hand on my hip, her eyes pleading, “Just a little longer.”

“I don’t have to go, Yavara.” I said taking her hand, “You can abandon this conquest, book passage on a ship for Terondia across the sea, and we can live together in peace for the rest of our lives.” I kissed the ring on her finger, the Tiadoa family crest she still wore, “But if you want to be queen, then you better not be late for your own war.”

Yavara smiled sadly, a tear rolling down her cheek. “It would’ve been easier if you never showed up at Prestira’s bar.”

“It wouldn’t have changed a damn thing.” I said getting to my feet, pulling her up with me, “If I’d heard you were the Dark Queen from a crier, and they sang of your evil from every rooftop in Bentius, I still would’ve raced across the battle lines to find you.” I gazed into her orange eyes, “It’s pathetic, really.”

“I love you so fucking much.” Yavara whispered.

“I love you too.”

The Protaki and Terdini had already formed a column when Yavara and I emerged from the hut. The rangers undoubtedly knew the exodus was happening, but they wouldn’t risk attacking a force this size. They’d shadow the orcs’ movements to pick off stragglers, perhaps attempt to slow their progress with obstacles, but ultimately, they’d return to Castle Thorum before nightfall, and the orcs would be out of reach the next day.

Zander had Yavara’s horse ready for her, a protective arcane membrane surrounding him and the nearby steeds. Brock bestrode an enormous bull beside the wizard, his back straight, his muscular body gleaming in the morning sun. He watched as Yavara hoisted herself onto her horse, a move that required her to spread her legs with her hips parallel to the ground. Brock saw what she wanted him to see, and he turned right to me, and made eyebrows. I giggled like a pining maiden, biting my finger and shifting my weight to one hip. My newfound female heterosexuality was absolutely hopeless, and my male homosexuality was even worse. I’d thought it might be gone after the alcohol had worn off, but no; I was still very attracted to Brock Terdini. It galled me that a strong-willed woman such as myself would be so sexually submissive, but I guessed it was just a lack of confidence. Confidence would come with more experience, but until then, I’d be the pathetic slut on my knees, begging for it. Well, that was fine; more than fine. Brock saluted to me, then turned the salute into a blown kiss. I caught the metaphorical lips, and brought them to my crotch with a smirk. He laughed, then kicked his heels into the bull’s flank, and raced to the front of the column. Zander nodded toward me as he trotted away, and Yavara waved, her neck craning to see me until she was gone.

“Why so morose?” Prestira asked, stepping beside me, “We’ll see them in a week.”

“Is that how it’s going to be now?” I dried my eyes, “A conjugal visit of a day, then a week of separation?”

“Not separation.” Patricia said from my other side, “Prestira and I can talk to Mom from any distance.” The vampire looked at me side-eyed through her veil, “Apparently, Brock is currently saying some very interesting things about you.”

I sniffled. “He’s got a big beak and he likes to squawk, doesn’t he? Well, my little birdies like to chirp as well, and they told me some very interesting things about our ultra-alpha, hyper-heterosexual Froktora.”

Patricia looked at me curiosity. “Oh? And what manner of bird are you? A parrot, perhaps?”

I zipped my fingers over my lips.

Prestira snorted. “Brock likes to have his ass eaten, so what?”

“Get out of my head, witch!”

She gave me an apologetic smile. “I thought it would be spicier gossip than that. Everyone likes to get their star polished.” Prestira leered at me, “Even if they pretend otherwise at first. You’ve changed quite a bit since we last met, Elena Straltaira. What an adaptable little bird you are.”

I smirked at Prestira. “Well, the next time Brock and I get drunk, I’ll make sure to wear my brown lipstick. With a few well-plied words, a promise of secrecy, and a bottle of lube, we’ll see just how… adaptable he is.”

“Bold words, Elena.” Prestira chuckled, pulling the reigns of her horse, “Now gather your flock; we have to go.”

We rode single file down old Alkandran paths, those that very few ranger scouts knew of. I guessed that the bulk of Castle Thorum’s contingent would be shadowing the tribes, but Adarian had trained me to caution, so we rode in silence. The sounds of the river disappeared as we left the Gorge, and my keen eyes and keener ears listened for any irregularities in the ambiance of the woods. The hair on the back of my neck began to creep up. I paused, holding out my hand.

“What?” Prestira asked.

I peered into the trees, following the paths of green sunlight through the canopy, looking at the shapes of the shadows. “We’re being followed.”

Patricia sniffed the air, cocking her head to the side. “Only one. Could be a high-elf, could be a dawn-elf; I can’t tell.”

“Do rangers usually scout on solo missions?” Prestira asked.

“I did.” I squinted into the woods, but I couldn’t see anyone. Whoever it was, they were very good at stalking, and were keeping their distance. I shook my head. “If it is a ranger, we’ll be long gone by the time they report back to Castle Thorum. Come on.”

We trotted along the path until the pines turned to spruces, and the path became overgrown with foliage. Crystal was becoming increasingly nervous, her head whirling this way and that, her tail coiled against her tailbone. Succubi and nymphs were natural enemies, but I’d never known the nymphs to be violent. When I asked Crystal what was wrong, she told me she was hearing a voice, a woman’s whisper that spoke words she knew, but did not understand. I looked to Prestira, and she shook her head. She could not hear the phantom whisper in Crystal’s mind. Crystal huddled behind her daughters, peering over their shoulders, lagging behind the rest of us. I had to pull her up onto my mount just to make sure she didn’t make a break for it. She found some comfort in the press of my body, but I still felt her quiver every time the trees rustled with the wind. Then one of the trees rustled against the wind, and I stopped. Crystal whimpered in my arms, plugging her ears, shutting her eyes tightly.

“We know you’re there!” I yelled up to the branches. No answer. “I am Elena Straltaira, ambassador of Queen Yavara Alkandi, the Dark Queen reborn. I come to seek an alliance with the sisters of the trees.”

A flash of skin and blonde hair fell from the canopy and landed ten yards in front of me. The nymph was about five and half feet tall, with pale skin and two curved goat horns protruding from beneath her blonde mane. She had green lines that traced where her veins should be, branching from her heart and lining her entire body. Her eyes were bright emerald, and her modesty was decorated with foliage. Despite her apparent athleticism, her body was soft, only the hint of muscle tone on her shoulders and abdomen. She cocked her head curiously as she regarded me.

“What are you, Elena?” She asked with a soft voice.

“I’m a half-breed of dark and high-elf. What’s your name?”

“Who are your friends?” She asked, ignoring my question.

“This is Prestira Rasloraca of Ardeni Dreus, and Patricia Bronson of the Titus clan. What is your name?”

“Rose.” Rose replied distractedly, looking from Crystal, to her daughters, “Why do you have those beasts with you?”

“They’re my slaves. I understand there’s no love lost between your races.”

“They were our people once,” Rose said as she walked along the succubi, “but one day, a curious nymph traveled too far from home and was taken by a sorcerer. He corrupted her, transformed her, and then set her loose on us; or so the legend goes. You said they are your slaves; what do you mean by that?”

“Their seduction backfired.” I said, trying to keep my eyes from wandering Rose’s body, “Something in my seed worked against them when they tried to enslave me.”

“That’s curious.” Rose said, looking me up and down, “You’re a female, Elena; you do not produce seed.”

I angled my body on the horse and showed Rose my bulge. Her eyes widened, her jaw clicked open. She inspected my crotch like it was an exhibit at a museum, unabashedly changing perspectives until it made sense in her mind. She looked into my eyes for the first time. “Some would say that the gods have blessed you, Elena Straltaira.”

“No, Queen Yavara has.”

“Interesting.” Rose said, not sounding too interested, “We have heard news of the Dark Queen’s return, but we didn’t expect her to send ambassadors here.”

“You would be a valued ally in the war to come.”

“War is not something nymphs do.” Rose said, studying Patricia curiously, “We are not soldiers, but tenders of the forest and speakers for the trees.”

“We don’t need you to fight on the front lines.” Prestira cut in, “We need your knowledge of the forest and gifts of subterfuge.”

“You need quite a few things, Prestira of Ardeni.” Rose mused, turning her gaze on Prestira. She furrowed her brow, “And you speak of subterfuge, when you have a beast concealed within you. Does Drake Titus deal in half-measures now? There are some who would call you an abomination.”

Prestira smiled, her incisors growing to fangs, then retracting. “You can tell your people to move from their spots, Rose; I can see them all.”

I gasped. All at once, hundreds of women materialized in the clearing, the textures of their bodies changing from floral and rock patterns to skin and hair. One was just three feet from me, and had perfectly disguised herself against the bark of a spruce. Now she was a black woman, her eyes a brilliant green, her veins pulsing with the same color.

“Why should we join a war of orcs and elves?” Rose asked me, “Why should we risk ourselves for a cause we do not care for?”

“Queen Leveria Tiadoa believes the Great Forest belongs to the Highlands.” I responded, “She will use Queen Yavara as an excuse to take everything. If Queen Yavara loses her war, Leveria will not stop at the Pines and the Tundra; she will continue south.”

“So you say, but you are hardly unbiased. Why should we believe you? Why should we not wait for a Highland emissary?”

“You will wait indefinitely. What do you have to offer the Highlands besides your land? Leveria will attack you simply because you are weak and in the way. No one in the Lowlands or the Bearded Peaks will care if the nymphs are slaughtered. Even the dawn-elves who befriend you will flee before the coming army. The only person with any power to stop Leveria is Queen Yavara, and all she is asking in return is that you fight with her.”

There was a murmur amongst the nymphs, their heads turning from Rose, to me. Crystal shivered in my lap, restraining a cry as she rubbed her temples. Rose closed her eyes, and touched a nearby tree. It was like she was in conference with the conifer, her lips moving silently. She opened her eyes, and her pupils retracted from their dilated state. “And if Queen Yavara wins her war, what will happen to us?”

“Nothing, if that is what you wish.”

Rose pondered my proposition for a moment, touched the tree again, then nodded, and raised her head to me. “This is not something we can decide for ourselves. The Mother will decide for us.”

“The Mother?” I asked her. Crystal couldn’t suppress her cry now. She wailed aloud, clutching the sides of her head.

“The Mother speaks to her, but this one can no longer listen, only hear.” Rose said, a pitiable expression on her face as she regarded Crystal. She looked back to me. “You may come see her, Elena, and bring your slaves with you. Prestira and Patricia must remain here.”

I nodded to Prestira and Patricia. They dismounted and sat on a fallen tree, taking on their tobacco pipes, watching the nymphs carefully. I helped Crystal down, and she collapsed into the arms of her daughters, whimpering. They shared concerned looks with me as they tried to calm their mother, kissing and caressing, touching her where she liked. It was to no avail. Crystal rambled unintelligibly, her head thrashing, her auburn hair whipping. They had to carry her between them as I followed behind Rose, who made a path through the audience of watchful women. I kept my gaze fixed forward, pondering what kind of creature the ‘Mother’ would be. She was a telepath, no doubt, and powerful if she could cause Crystal pain with just her thoughts. I didn’t realize until too late that I was staring directly at Rose’s ass, watching the leafed garment shift to show the mesmerizing bottom of her pale cheek. Rose connected gazes with me over her shoulder, and I turned red, and coughed uncomfortably. She inclined her head curiously, then continued forward without comment, her stride lengthening, each footfall causing her hips to sway. I almost thought she was teasing me, but Rose didn’t seem the type for humor of any kind. Though she was beautiful, though they were all beautiful, the nymphs were sexless creatures. How some became succubi, the exact antithesis of asexuality, was a mystery that I didn’t doubt would soon be solved. I wasn’t buying that wizard story, and I didn’t think Rose did either.

We stopped at the base of the largest tree I’d ever seen. It was hundreds of feet tall and thirty feet wide, the bark gnarled and knobbed with time. Rose stepped forward and touched the tree, whispering something I could not hear. The tree creaked and groaned, the ground beneath me shook, the needles rustled in the canopy high above. Rose stepped back, and the base of the monolithic conifer opened into a doorway. Rose turned to me.

“You must remove the dead animal skin from your body. The Mother will not speak to those that wear her creatures as hides.”

I removed my weapons and undid the straps of my armor, peeling sweaty swaths of leather from my body, feeling the cool air on the hot flesh. I hadn’t been ashamed of my nudity since Yavara changed me, so I was unperturbed by Rose’s inquisitive stares. She seemed fascinated by my manhood, but not in a sexual way.

“You may enter.” Rose said when I’d peeled the last armor off me. We followed her through the threshold, and into the darkness. I could smell the sap, feel the humidity on my face, but it wasn’t until the door closed behind us that I saw anything. The entire trunk was hollow on the inside, illuminated with millions of bioluminescent mushrooms that spiraled hundreds of feet up, coalescing into a green blur at the peak. I gawked upward, dizzy with the immensity of the cavern. Then I noticed that Crystal had stopped her wailing, and I turned to see her staring sightlessly at the apex above, her eyes rolled back. Rose walked by me and sat upon the ground with her legs crossed. She beckoned us to do the same, and I did, feeling the moist soil contour to my spread cheeks. My slaves formed a circle, gently guiding their mother to sit beside me. Crystal continued to stare upward, her mouth hanging open. Rose regarded her with a subtle tilt of her head, then raised her face to the apex, and spoke.

“Great Mother of the forest, I am but a vessel for your voice. A messenger of the Dark Queen has enslaved our enemies and brought them to us to demonstrate her good will. The messenger asks that we join her queen in a war against those that would drive us from our home. Great Mother, I am but a vessel for your voice, use me to speak with those who cannot hear you.”

A green light descended from the top of the cavernous trunk. It grew brighter until it was almost blinding, but it was not painful to my eyes. The light enveloped Rose completely, her silhouette thinning until it was gone. Then light faded, and when the afterimages dispersed, I saw Rose, her green veins aglow with the light that coursed through her, brightening and dimming with her heartbeat. Her eyes no longer bore irises, but were simply glowing emeralds, shimmering like the fractals of a sunlit pool.

“Elena,” The Mother spoke, “I remember when you walked these woods as a ranger. You used to sing lonely songs to yourself by the river banks. It seems those days are behind you, child.”

“Do you know everything that goes on in the forest?” I asked.

“From the Pines to the Palms, I see all. The roots of the trees run deep and entangle in a web for thousands of miles, all branching from this spot; the first tree of the Great Forest, where I was born ten thousand years ago from the mind of an ancient god. They have moved from this land, the Creators of old.” The Mother paused thoughtfully, “There is a ranger tracking you, Elena. It is your former commander.”

“Adarian?! What does he want?”

“I cannot presume to know what you mortals desire.” The Mother mused, “Adarian is a complicated man with complicated tethers that pull at him. Perhaps he is a spy, perhaps he wishes to talk. It is unusual for him to patrol alone; he is usually with another.”

“He’d better keep his distance.” I muttered, “Prestira and Patricia won’t be too interested in what he has to say.”

“And what about what you have to say, Elena? You wish me to join your queen in her sibling rivalry.”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“It is not.” The Mother said, “Alkandi sat where you sat fifteen-hundred years ago and asked me to join her. Her family had banished her and killed her lover, so she thought the best course of action was to

wage a war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Yavara is just as selfish.”

“Yavara is ambitious,” I said, “but she is not selfish. Under Yavara’s rule, you will retain your sovereignty over the Spruces. Under Leveria’s rule, you will be driven from here.”

“Perhaps,” The Mother didn’t seem worried, “but I will not be motivated to send my children into the mouth of war. The nymphs are born of my sap and nectar, and each one of them is precious to me.”

“You will be massacred if the Highland army comes here.”

The Mother smiled mildly. “They would sweep across the land and find it vacant. And when their loggers come to chop the trees, their axes will be blunted. And when the farmers try to till the soil, they will find it does not hunger for crops. And when the hunters try to stalk game, they will find tracks that lead to nowhere. Eventually they will abandon this place, and my children will return. The Highlands tried to tame the Spruces long ago, the Lowlands tried as well. Even Alkandi tried, but she too failed. This is the heart of the Great Forest, and I ensure that it beats eternal.”

“Then why are we even talking right now if you’re just going to say ‘no?’”

“I never declined your offer.” The Mother said in her sing-song voice, “I only ask for something in return.”

“What?”

“There is a sickness that infects my children. They call it ‘the corruption.’” The Mother beckoned to Crystal. “I created my children to tend the forest and shepherd the creatures beneath the haven of my canopy. But I failed them in my design; I gave them the bodies and hearts of women, but no men to accompany them. They didn’t have the instinct to breed, as I was the only one creating life, but the yearning for companionship took them anyway. Some laid with one another, and I accepted that, but some needed more, and they were corrupted.”

“Rose told me a sorcerer corrupted the nymphs and turned them to succubi, is that what really happened?”

“No,” The Mother said, “the girls that disappeared left by their own volition. They ventured to towns and cities where I couldn’t see them, and indulged in their lust until it became their identity. The nymphs nurse upon my sap for sustenance, but the succubi found something else to feed upon. I hated what my mistake had created, so in my shame, I created the legend in its stead.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, leaning forward.

“The girl I’m speaking though, Rose, is a woman with much potential, but you saw the way she looked at you. She has the yearning, and if left unattended, she will be corrupted. The beast you call ‘Crystal’ was once called Tulip. Tulip was a woman with potential as well. One day I lost Tulip. I watched in anguish as my favorite daughter grew thin and frail. I nursed her to the exclusion of others, trying to give her strength back to her, but she could not feed from me any longer; she needed something else. She went to Ardeni Dreus, and ten years later she returned. I did not recognize her until she stepped foot on my soil, then I knew what she had become. She burrowed herself into a cave and preyed upon boats that crashed on her shore. She gave birth to five daughters and they too, preyed on innocents. And then one day you came along, and everything changed.”

“I’m not sure what you’re saying.”

“There is something in you, Elena, something that Yavara passed to you.” The Mother said, “The dark-elves were resistant, even dominant to the succubi, but the dark-elves were all female, and the succubus ultimately desires the male. You are the first dark-elf to bear a man’s organ, and so you have something I can use. Your succubi aren’t just enslaved by you, but unconditionally in love with you, and that it was I need. Elena, I need your seed.”

My jaw dropped. “What the fuck.”

The Mother stood up, “I will mix your seed with my sap, and when my daughters drink from me they will never stray from the flock again; they will love me unconditionally, as your slaves love you.”

“Um… can we talk about the ethics of this for a second?”

“Ethics?” The Mother smiled for the first time, “Elena Straltaira, you are a killer, a slaver, and a rapist. Most of all, you are an outsider. Do not lay the burden of your ethos on me.” She stepped forward, and extended her finger to Crystal’s temple. The light surged into Crystal’s body, her violet eyes becoming glowing emeralds, her veins igniting beneath her flesh, forking in floral patterns across her limbs. Her auburn hair tinged a dark green, her demonic horns branched into ebony antlers, her thin tail retracted into her body. Her robust curves shrank to a more modest hourglass, retaining the womanly shape on a sleeker figure. Crystal became Tulip once again, only her girlish features and tan flesh belying the woman she just was. Rose stumbled back, then collapsed into the soil, her eyes rolled back, her chest heaving in slumbering breaths.

I looked to the Mother within Tulip. “What’s your name?”

“Arbor,” Arbor said from Tulip’s mouth, “Arbor was my name once.” She moved with uncharacteristic fluidity, walking as though the soil that pressed between her toes was an extension of her feet, the humid air flowing off her like steam. She stopped in front of me, her hairless slit staring me in the face, her shining green eyes gazing down at me. “Will you make love to me, Elena Straltaira?”

“Wait.” I said, pressing my hands to her thighs, “What if this backfires too? Can you be corrupted?”

Arbor chuckled mildly. “I am infinite. Centuries are days to me, billions are a handful, miles are footsteps. You are but flesh and blood.” Arbor paused, an introspective frown on her lips. “But it is flesh and blood that has so vexed me. I have watched beasts couple beneath my canopy countless of times, and I just do not understand it.” Arbor descended to a sitting position in front of me, and looked expectantly at me. “Will you show me?”

“You’re ten thousand years old, and you’ve never had sex?”

“I am a spirit of the forest.” Arbor said, “I use the pollen and seeds of trees to birth my children.”

I looked quizzically at the antlered woman. “If all you want is my sperm, I can just jack off into a cup.”

“No.” Arbor said, touching my knees with the tips of her fingers, “It is time that I solve this mystery of flesh and blood, and understand what compels my daughters to darkness.”

I uncrossed my legs. “It’s not hard to understand. Do you feel anything when you look at me?”

Arbor gazed at my opened legs, her green eyes traversing my thighs, my cock, my abdomen and breasts, then resting on my face. “I feel fear.”

“Is that all?”

Arbor cocked her head, a curious expression dawning across her face. “No, I also feel…” She extended her index and middle fingers apprehensively, then touched my lips with the utmost softness. I parted my lips, and she stared at me for a moment, then slowly pushed her fingers inside. My mouth closed in a sensual suck, drawing delicately from her as I stared with languorous, wanting eyes. I hummed and rotated my lips, gently clasping her hand with mine, taking her deeper. Her cheeks flushed, and her breath caught, and she furrowed her brow as though she could not comprehend why. Despite her confusion, she leaned toward me, rising on her knees until she was breathing on the back of her hand, watching my sensuous consumption of her slender fingers. She rested her thumb on my chin, and slowly pulled her fingers out. My tongue slithered between them as they exited, and when they were free of me, she sniffed them. Then she licked them. Then she sucked them, her brow knitting with needs she didn’t understand, her back arching to press her chest against mine. Our open lips connected, and Arbor snaked an exploratory tongue into my mouth. I slithered out to meet her, and between the timid press of our lips, with eyes staring into each other, I showed her how to kiss. Her eyes slowly began to close, the breathing of her pressing nose became steady, and her fingers came up to touch my face, tilting it back so that she could rise. I felt her slender thighs parted around the outside of mine, her heat radiating between them, a droplet of nectar oozing onto the stiff head of my cock. She parted from the kiss with a gasp, her hands meeting behind my head, her eyes opening to hungry slits above red cheeks and rosy swollen lips.

“That was quite the sensation.” She whispered. Her head dropped to look between our bodies, hers poised atop mine, “How did I get like this?”

“Strange how that happens.” I chuckled, tilting her face back up to mine, “Are you ready?”

“I do not know.” She whispered. My first sexual experience already felt like a lifetime ago, but I remembered vividly the fear and insecurity. I gazed into Arbor’s green eyes as I slowly moved my throbbing member to her slit. She cocked her head when our parts touched, inquisitive and unsure. I slid between her petals, feeling the heat of her, the froth of lust wetting me. I knew Crystal’s body well; Tulip wouldn’t be too different. Arbor’s face remained passive for a while, but soon her expression changed. Her eyes opened a little wider, her jack slackened, her full lips parted as her body began to react to me.

“What are you doing to me?” She whispered on my lips, “I feel this… ache inside me.” She gasped, biting her lip, “Oh, it is unbearable!”

“What do you want?” I grinned.

“I want you.” She hissed, her eyes drooping with need, “I want you to penetrate me.”

I slowly guided Arbor’s hips down, feeling her tight heat separated around my cock, enveloping me with each inch. She shuddered and lowered her head, watching as I took her chastity from her. I met the resistance of her reformed hymen, and her breath caught, her thighs seizing about me. I met her gaze, watching her prepare herself. Physical pain was as new to her as physical pleasure, but Arbor’s years showed with her even composure. She nodded, and I broke her virginity. She molded to me with a gasp, her breasts squishing into mine, her clenching belly hot against my abdomen. I kept guiding her down slowly, savoring every tight inch of her. She reached my base, her ass forming a seal of supple warmth on my pelvis and thighs. Her antlers rested atop my head as she looked down at herself, her chest heaving, her body acclimating. I stroked her back lovingly, each touch a communication of gentleness and comfort. Her pelvic muscles unclenched, her head rose to me, her eyes filled with wonder.

“I never knew.” She whispered to me, “I never knew what I was denying my daughters all these years.”

“It’s OK Arbor,” I smiled back to her, “don’t worry about anything now.”

“Do I make you feel good?” She asked, rolling her vaginal muscles down my length.

I groaned, pulling her hard against me. “So fucking good!”

She smiled at that, and rose, moaning as her tight lips gripped around me all the way up. When she was at my peak, she dropped, impaling herself to the hilt. She shuddered with pleasure and let out a weak cry, her back collapsing into a languid arch, molding her supple curves to mine. I guided her body with my hands on her hips, showing her the grinding motions she should make, feeling her tight lips stirring around me. She swayed to my guidance, following my directions to the letter. Then she suddenly drove her pelvis down, taking me with a voracity she hadn’t expressed before. My head tilted back, and a moan left my lips. She giggled in excitement as she pleasured me all on her own. She was learning.

Arbor gyrated on my lap, her hips moving aggressively, her ass clapping behind her. Her expression changed from one of curious excitement to wanton desire, her eyes narrowing above a devilish smile. She took me into a nectarous kiss, her fingers lightly wrapping my neck, her nose inhaling sharply with the heated motions of her dancing belly and grinding hips. She pulled from the kiss with my lower lip stretching between her teeth, her unadorned eyes glimmering with playfulness that seemed wholly uncharacteristic. The gentleness left me, and I leaned into the goddess and filled my mouth with her flailing breast, sucking greedily, pulling the delicate flesh deep. The green light in her veins flashed as her heartrate increased. I slobbered as I sucked, my tongue lathering, my saliva dripping from the corners of my lips. Her back arched, her hands pulling me deeper to her breast, her lips parting in a smile to cry my name. I filled my hands with her supple cheeks, digging my fingers into her flesh until conformed delectably around my knuckles, and she plastered herself against me, our bodies merging inside and out.

My slaves pleasured each other at the sight of us, filling their mouths as their fingers found holes to occupy. Rose was left unattended in the corner, sleeping despite her holy mother’s cries. The cries were becoming louder.

I pulled Arbor off the ground, pressed her against the wall, and railed relentlessly into her, my composure gone, my hunger ravenous. She screamed in pleasure, locking her legs around my waist and willing me to push harder, deeper, to ruin her purity until she was convulsing and writhing. Her hips drove in jerking contest with me, meeting in the middle, our eyes staring heatedly above our violent joining, our mouth’s panting. Her veins flashed like a strobe with the acceleration of her heart, the pulse beating in her loins against my cock, each contraction squeezing me, sucking me deeper.

“Elena!” She cried, “Something is happening to me!”

“I know!” I cried with her, “Me too!”

“I-I think-” Arbor didn’t finish that thought. I drove her body against the wood of the tree with wild abandon, her juices frothing around our joining parts, dripping from her spread cheeks and onto the soil below. Her cries rose in their tenor, her fingernails dug into my back, she began panting sporadically, her heart flashing so fast it nearly blinding. With a final cry, I pushed my full length into her, and unloaded. Arbor gasped and sputtered against me, her back arching from the tree, her legs quivering around me. She seized in ecstasy, then sounded her climactic scream to the apex of the tree.

Arbor’s eyes turned purple, her veins changed to neon violet, and the lights of the tree all dimmed to a lilac hue. Then she wasn’t Arbor anymore, nor Tulip, but Crystal once again. Her body regained its voluptuous hourglass, her antlers shrank to horns, her hair turned auburn, and her veins dimmed. Crystal opened her eyes, blinking confusedly, her eyes their normal violet. I pulled out of her, but none of my seed leaked from her exhausted slit.

“Master?” She asked, as bewildered as me, “Master, the voice is gone.”

“I guess it’s over then.” I said.

I turned around just as Rose was getting off the ground. Her eyes glowed purple, her veins pulsed with violet light. She looked at me with and an adoring smile, and with Arbor’s voice, she said, “Master.”

“What.”

“Master!” Arbor said reverently, walking toward me as she pushed Rose’s clothes off.

“Oh no-no-no-no-no!” I stammered, backing away. I turned to Crystal in a panic, but her expression offered no explanation.

“Master?” Arbor asked, kicking off her floral skirt “Does this form not please you?”.

“Goddamn it!” I yelled at her, “What did I say would happen, Arbor?! What the fuck did I say?!”

“Did I do something wrong?” Arbor asked, “I’m sorry Master, do you need to punish me?”

“Fuck.” I said, pondering what to do next, “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! Arbor get out of Rose and let me talk to her.”

“Yes, Master.” Arbor said. A purple light erupted from the nymph and ascended to the apex. Rose blinked for a second as her body came back to her. Her shining purple veins grew green and dull, and her glowing emerald eyes faded to normal green irises. She looked around the inside of the tree, then stared back at me with her mouth agape in horror.

“What the fuck did you do?!” She screamed.

“It was her idea!” I yelled back, “She gave me an ultimatum, and I told her what might happen, but she did it anyway!”

“Oh no!” Rose said as she looked at the purple lights, “Elena, we need to fix this!”

“How?” I asked.

“I don’t know!” Rose said frantically, “You need to release her from your service. Can you do that?”

“I’ve never tried, let me see. Onyx,” I said to the slave, “I release you from your service; you’re no longer my slave.”

“Yes Master.” Onyx said, looking around in a confused manner, “What do you want me to do now, Master?”

“Yeah,” I sighed, “I didn’t think that would work.”

“OK,” Rose said, taking a deep breath, “everything is going to be OK. Happy thoughts, trees and flowers, bees and birds, sunny skies and fertile dirt. Think, think, think. OK Elena, I’m going to let the Mother back into my body, and you’re going to convince her not to be your slave.”

“I don’t think it works like that.” I said.

“Well it better.” Rose growled, “Because you’re not getting out of this tree until you fix this!” Rose raised her head to the ceiling and said the words she spoke before. Nothing happened. She looked at me with worry written across her face. She tried again, and nothing happened. Rose tried again, more desperately this time, yelling the words through a hoarse voice, but nothing happened.

“Rose,” I said to her, “I don’t think the Mother wants to speak through you anymore.”

“Of course, she does!” Rose yelled, her voice shaking, “She’s spoken through me for ten years! I’m her voice!”

“Let’s try a different tactic.” I said, putting a calming hand on her shoulder, “Crystal, do what Rose just did.”

Crystal raised her head to the ceiling and spoke the words. A purple light descended from the top of the tree and engulfed her. Her eyes flashed open, revealing nothing but two, glowing purple ovals.

“Master,” Arbor said through Crystal, “have you forgiven me for my transgressions, or do you still need to punish me?”

“Mother?” Rose asked Arbor, her eyes welling in tears, “Mother, what has she done to you?”

“Master as shown me the error of my ways,” Arbor said to Rose, “she has given me joy I never thought possible.”

“She’s corrupted you!” Rose cried, tears welling in her eyes, “She carries the sorcerer’s curse!”

“There never was a sorcerer.” Arbor said to Rose, “That was a lie I made up thousands of years ago to hide the fact that I failed you.”

“What do you mean?” Rose sniffled.

“I designed the nymphs to be tenders of the forest, to love what I had given them and to nurture the world I created. But I failed you, Rose, I failed all of you. I gave you female bodies and hearts, but no men to accompany you. I took away your instinct to breed, but not your instinct to love. The corruption isn’t a curse; it’s god insulting me for my hubris.”

“Don’t say that, Mother,” Rose sobbed, “it’s not your fault.”

“Rose,” I said to the nymph, “I’m going to get Prestira and bring her here. She’s the best telepath in the world; she’ll be able to help us. Just sit tight.”

PRESTIRA

“Is he still there?” I asked Patricia.

Patricia narrowed her eyes at the distant ridgeline. “Yeah, just the one. It’s a ranger no doubt.”

“Adarian sent a scout to keep an eye on us.” I mused, “He’ll keep his distance; don’t worry about him.”

“But I’ve never had high-elf before, and I heard it’s delicious.” Patricia sighed, relaxing against the log. She regarded the nymphs around her. “Not like these things. Eating a nymph would be akin to eating a soy burger.”

“You’ll have plenty of chances to sample Highlander once the war starts. There will be prisoners, and Yavara will have to placate Titus somehow.”

“I wonder how Elena will feel about that.” Patricia smirked at me, displaying her fangs.

“What Elena doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” I smiled back, “We’ll keep our tender-hearted ranger on diplomacy missions. I must say, she has a surprising knack for it. Yavara could afford to learn a thing from her.”

Patricia glanced at the angle of the sun through her veil. “She sure has been in there for a while. Negotiations must be at a standstill.”

“I doubt she’s standing, much less being still.” I chuckled, “You saw the way Ambassador Straltaira and Rose were looking at each other. I suspect negotiations are rather rigorous right now.”

“She’s supposed to be gaining an alliance, not fucking the diplomat.”

“We’re under the reign of the Dark Queen, Patricia. Fucking the diplomat is standard practice.”

“Here she comes.” Patricia said as Elena emerged from the tree, completely naked, “You were right, of course.”

“Told you.” I laughed.

Elena was walking extremely quickly toward us. Her face was flushed, and her body was covered in dirt.

“Elena!” I chided the embarrassed hybrid, “it seems you forgot something!”

“Prestira,” Elena said with a frantic voice, “I need your help. I spoke with the Mother and…”

I heard a songbird’s whistle carry from the ridgeline to the north. My skin went cold. My blood thundered in my head. There was a sound like a violin screeching in the deepest pits of my ears. The world was bathed in orange rays of twilight sun, casting shadows in dark columns through the trees. There was a woman’s whisper in my ear. Mistress Leveria. Bring me Yavara, bring me Elena if you can. Kill the rest. Kill them slowly. My hand shot out and cast a bondage spell across Elena. She dropped to the ground, her face frozen in shock.

“Prestira?” Patricia thought it was a joke, “What the hell are you-”

I set her clothes aflame. I stared blankly as my blood-granddaughter flailed frantically, trying to beat out the arcane fire. Too late. The sun pierced through her burning clothes, and she danced to cover the spots, crying out with each exposure, twisting herself in knots as her cloak disintegrated. Then she was naked in the sunlight, her red eyes bulging, her alabaster flesh turning pink, then scarlet, then crimson. She looked at me then, an expression of abject horror on her face.

“Why?!” She screamed. I grabbed her with my mind and held her high in the air. I watched dispassionately as she trashed and shrieked, crossing her arms over her chest, covering her face with her hands. Her naked body began to steam, her hair began to smoke. Her screams lost their humanity and became shrill and wild, an echo of the manic terror and agony that ravaged her mind, tearing her identity from her, leaving her as nothing but the torture of flesh and the horror of the end. Her skin began to melt and drip to the forest floor; splashing, sizzling. Her exposed muscles twitched in the sun, charred and leaching liquid fat. Her shriek turned to a throaty gurgle, then to a hiss of air. I let her fall with a thud on the ground, her melted eyes running from their sockets, her nasal cartilage crisping to reveal the hole beneath, her exposed jaw twitching with the last screams of her waning agony. Then, she was gone.

The nymphs descended upon me, blowing their darts and throwing their stones. I stopped their projectile in the air and sent it flying back to them. They reeled behind cover, and I blasted a wall of flame between us, then hoisted Elena in the air, and walked toward the source of the whistle. The androgynous silhouette in cowl, my harbinger.

A woman’s voice was screaming in my head. It was Yavara. I cut our connection and walked up the hill. He was waiting for me there, my herald, my deliverer. I dropped Elena to the ground before him, and awaited his command.

THOMAS ADARIAN

I pocketed the whistle, and tossed the witch a length of rope. “Bind her.” I said.

Prestira nodded, her face vacant. She hogtied the magically-bound hermaphrodite, my old comrade, my brightest student. Elena looked frantically from Prestira to me. I’d seen that face too many times, that terrified expression of the cornered. It tore me to pieces to see it on her, but she’d made her choice, and it would cost her dearly. More dearly than I cared to think, for I feared the vampire had gotten off easy compared to what Elena Straltaira would endure. It was love that condemned her, as it does for us all. I walked up to Prestira. There was no light behind her eyes. I put the knife to her throat and began to slice.

“Adarian!” Elena screamed, “Stop! Don’t do it!”

I looked at Elena, wondering if I should turn the knife on her now. A quick slash across the throat, and I’d save her the hell that Leveria had waiting. But orders were orders, and wars were lost by the hands of merciful men.

“Adarian!” Elena screamed, tears streaming down her face, “Please don’t.”

I pushed the blade into Prestira’s throat and slashed across. Prestira’s mind came back to her for an instant. I saw the horror and confusion behind her eyes as the blood spurted from her throat. She fell to the ground, tears dripping from her eyes. Then her eyes glazed. Elena shrieked, thrashing in her binds. I forced a rope between her teeth and hoisted her onto the back of my horse. We rode off as the nymphs began to scale our hill, the succubi running full-speed ahead of them. ‘Master!’ They screamed. Their master would never return to them. I would make sure of that.

End of Part Six.

---